Betrayal
by congresscrab
Summary: After serving him for so long, she suddenly wanted him dead. These are the last moments of the Gravelord.


**Welcome to a oneshot centered around our favourite spooky scary skeleton overlord! Without much fanfare, let´s hop right in!**

I was waiting. Waiting for the one who betrayed me and my family. I met her a while back, when she had barely begun her adventure, fresh from the Asylum. I recalled her telling me that she wished to end the curse of Undeath. For that, she required power, so she decided to ask me, the Gravelord, for help, seeing as that was my field of expertise, so to speak.  
´ _Another foolish dream chaser. Although, she must possess some semblance of skill to reach my sanctuary. Perhaps I should establish a covenant with this fool before someone else does. It would be foolish to let her potential as a servant of Death go to waste. Better Death than those filthy_ _ **clerics**_ _.´_ I thought back then. ´ _Also, I need someone strong protect my children. These necromancers are getting more persistent about stealing my power. Yes, she should prove useful.´_

I told her that I did not know of any way to lift the curse. As she was about to leave, her disappointment clearly visible in her posture, I ordered her to stop. I told her about the potential I saw within her, and offered her power, more power than she could ever imagine, as a Gravelord servant. Make her powerful enough to make her dream a reality. To stop the curse. However, she was to kill others, and offer me their Eyes, as proof of her Faith in me and Death. Such is the price for power, after all. It is always received from the death of others. Without a second of hesitation, she established the covenant, and after she received a fragment of my Soul as proof of our concord, she giddily left with the help of the transport coffin.  
For a while, her servitude helped mend the monotony of sitting inside my sarcophagus, with her returning every so often to offer me the Eyes of her victims, and telling me tales of the outside world. Her reaction to me telling her that the skeletons she was fighting in the Catacombs were all the former Gravelord Servants, whom I regarded as family, shocked her to say the least.

After realizing what she believed to be a mistake, she apologized over and over, until I told her that it didn´t really matter, since they would reassemble anyway sooner or later. As long as she didn´t invade the Tomb of the Giants through the entryway of the Catacombs and begin disturbing my children and the remains of those that tried to leave this world, I would tolerate it. Besides, the skeletons in the Catacombs were under the control of the necromancers there that always tried to siphon off some of my power. Suffice to say, the only part of my Soul they managed to get their hands on was the miniscule fragments I gave to my late servants.

One day, she told me about a man that admired the sun, and always helped her when she had trouble on her travels. It sounded like there was something deeper than friendship between them, but it didn´t concern me, so I didn´t pry any further. His name was Sol-something or other. I assumed that he was helping her right now, slaughtering my children. He would die painfully once I got my hands on him.  
How it came to this treachery, I do not know. Her last visit was like all the others, ending with her leaving, cheerfully waving and returning to her quest.  
Then, after a long time, I felt her presence I had come to trust, somewhat at least, rudely invade the Tomb of Giants, where many a brave warrior was laid to rest and where my children played with each other, finding some solace in this dying land. She began murdering them ruthlessly. All my children, dying, one after the other. Their death didn´t actually matter, as they would always simply reassemble, but the act of harming them was enough to warrant severe punishment. I could guess what the object of her desire was: my Soul, the Soul of Death, the source of my power. There was really nothing else of significance in my domain. But she would not be satisfied with just a fragment. She wanted all of it for herself, the power-hungry fool. And she would only receive it over my dead body.

I would not allow this to continue. I felt her drawing closer. I could hear two sets of footsteps. One was nearly earth-shatteringly heavy, the other lighter, but firm. I made a motion to get out of my coffin. My children assembled themselves in front of me, preparing themselves for battle, drawing their scimitars. I gave the silent command to await them at the hole they had to drop in from, to give them no time to collect themselves and finish them quickly. I knew though, that that was not going to work in the long run. Undead had the nasty ability to return and learn from their mistakes after death, thusly rendering every tactic useless after its first use. At that moment, I heard the duo jump into my lair.

I felt no regret as I heard the intruders scream, the echoes soon fading. They had died once, but the next time, I myself would join the fray. After a short while, I heard them dropping in again. I ordered my children to attack, and slowly moved toward the traitor and her helper, my massive stature barely producing any sounds as I made my way over to the battle. I heard swords clash, and skeletons falling apart. No matter. They would be back in a few seconds. I was standing behind the phantom currently tearing off a skull with his bare hand, not hearing me approach. I raised my sword. I heard the traitor yell something to her phantom, but it´s too late. I cleaved him in half, drowning out his pain filled scream with my satisfaction. I had long since forgotten the feeling of killing my enemies, but I ignored it for now.

I looked at the traitor, eyeing her equipment. She was wearing the armour of a friend of the Lord of Sunlight, known as the Rock, wielding a rather large sword, which was resting on her shoulder. It looked enchanted, and the vibe it gave off told me one thing. It´s an Occult weapon, made solely to slay the Lords. How she got it was beyond me, but if that hit me, I would be in huge trouble.  
I tried to grab her, however she broke out of her stupor just in time, and rolled to my left side, to safety. She then used her momentum to thrust her sword into my side. I reel back. That hit was inhumanly strong. I may have granted her too much power. I had to finish this fight as fast as possible. So I started to reel back my own giant sword, preparing a slash that would cleave her in half, drawing her focus to me. As I did just that, my children would tackle her and pin her to the floor, making her an easy kill. It´s something that has worked every time, making many a warrior give up on killing me and make them go Hollow, surprisingly enough, as they never thought to just watch their back. The fools.

My child has reformed right behind her as I swung my sword, knowing that they would do their part. However, somehow I seemed to have forgotten what armour she was wearing. She is a mountain, unmoving, unable to be truly hurt by physical attacks. My child simply shattered on impact, and she did not care in the slightest, instead trying to block my swing with her own huge sword. However, while my weapon itself did not cut through her armour, she still let out a loud hiss of pain. It was in that moment that she realized that my sword was laced with the toxin I used to kill the Ancient Dragons. It seeped right through her protective gear and eroded her very being.  
After that realization she gasped and frantically attacked me, hoping to vanquish me before she died due to the poison. I began losing my senses, the occult sword nearly breaking the link between my soul and my body. I am thankful that I couldn´t feel physical pain, the pain on my soul was strong enough to make me black out for a while. After a few seconds that felt like hours, the poison got to her, and she collapsed. I felt no regret, sadness or joy as she died in front of me. I just felt empty, as usual.

I slumped to the floor. My wounds were too severe. The next encounter would result in me dying fairly quickly, and I wouldn´t be able to resist anyways. I prepared myself for Death´s embrace. I wondered, though, why she would betray me. I had always been kind, fulfilling my end of the bargain, granting her power in exchange for tribute. I gave, and took in equal measure. That´s how humans like it, didn´t they? I was prepared to die, but before I did, I wanted to ask why. Why it had to come to this. How I could have averted it. But alas, the answers elude me. My questions will go unanswered, and disappear into the void.

The time between my short-lived victory and her return passed rather quickly, and as I lifted my head, I saw her, wearing a different set of armour now, one that resembled the one that Gwyn gave his sentinels. On her back, she now wore a shield which gave her a green aura, and though she held the same blade as earlier, she had a mask on her face that belonged to the head necromancer. How ironic. It seemed like the man would get what he wanted, though he had to die for it first.  
I didn´t put up any kind of resistance. I simply sat there, on my knees, taking every hit the traitor threw at me, feeling my Soul being forcefully separated from my body, with every hit severing the link a bit more. I had already accepted Death as a part of me. I had no fear toward it. Nor had I any reason to stay in Lordran. I ordered my children to stand down. After seemingly hesitating, they did.

The Undead did not care, and simply focused all their attention on me. It felt like I was being ripped apart at my seams, which I kind of was, and still, I did nothing. After all, why resist it? These people eluded Death. They lacked the resolve to give up. But I didn´t. And so, as the blades struck me one last time, my body began to dissolve, the link between Soul and physical form being torn asunder. The last words I heard were from the traitor.

" _I´m sorry, master."_

Then, I blacked out.

 **Well, that´s over. Hope you enjoyed! I don´t have much else to say, so…**

 **MERRY CHRISTMAS! I know it´s only tomorrow, but who cares?**

 **Now then, I hope that I´ll see you guys on my other stories! Now that that side note/shameless self-promotion is out of the way, I´ll leave. Bye!**


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